


Talk Tonight

by gaykhaleesi



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:41:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaykhaleesi/pseuds/gaykhaleesi
Summary: They only have one night together.Will they make every moment count?





	1. Charles De Gaulle

**Author's Note:**

> Ashlyn/Ali shipper with all my heart, but decided to give an Ashlyn/OFC story a try!  
> This story is roughly ten chapters long, and it's rated for future chapters.

**Charles De Gaulle Airport**

**20:00**

 

 _Sittin' on my own_  
_Chewin' on a bone_  
_A thousand million miles from home_  
_When something hit me_  
_Somewhere right between the eyes_

 _\- Talk Tonight,_ **Oasis**

 

"Paris?" a distraught voice cried loudly into her ear, causing her to wince away slightly from her phone. "What do you mean you're still in Paris?"

Ashlyn managed to bite back an aggravated sigh. She didn't want to deal with Anna's nagging bullshit, not after the nightmare of a day she'd been having. 

She could hear her publicist's designer, high heeled shoes click-clacking loudly on the other end of the line and for a brief moment, it felt as if she were right there next to her instead of over four thousand miles away in Orlando, Florida. Ashlyn then pictured Anna back in her luxurious office, vigorously pacing back and forth behind her desk, just as she always did whenever the slightest inconvenience occurred. That woman really needed to learn how to relax. "Exactly what it sounds like, Anna. I'm stuck at the damn airport," she finally responded after a moment of silence. She glanced across the airport lounge, her eyes scanning down the list of departing flights only to see that even after several miserable hours of waiting around, her flight back home to Florida was still very much delayed. "That storm over on the coast must be getting bad, they've been announcing that they're grounding all air traffic. There's nothing flying out in that direction right now."

 Anna scoffed back in response. "Oh, that's ridiculous, Ashlyn. There has to be something in that airport that's flying out to Florida! Have you tried booking another flight with a different airline or something? What about taking a private jet home? I'm sure we can pull some strings and find one."

"Nothing is flying out in that direction," she repeated, flatly. "Which part of that statement didn't you comprehend the first time around?"

"In case you've forgotten, you have a very important press conference tomorrow afternoon," she reminded her. "And a photoshoot right after that with Nike."

Ashlyn shrugged. "Well, then I guess we're going to have to cancel seeing as I'm probably not going to make it back home in time."

"I can't just cancel on this short of a notice! Don't you know how unprofessional that would look for the both of us?"

"Exactly what do you want me to do?" At this point, Ashlyn didn't even bother masking her irritability. "Want me to swim across the damn Atlantic to get to Florida?"

"I really don't care what you have to do, Ashlyn," Anna retorted coolly. "But you need to find a way to be back here before tomorrow afternoon, do you understand me?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not making any promises." Before she could even get another word in, Ashlyn hung up and slipped her phone into the pocket of her black leather jacket, making a mental note about not answering Anna's calls for the rest of the night. She knew that ignoring her was only going to add more fuel to the fire, but she figured Anna would have to forgive her sooner or later. Her three story townhouse and custom made designer suits didn't exactly pay for themselves, after all. Ashlyn lifted her sunglasses onto the top of her head and leaned back into her chair, looking around the airport lounge disinterestedly.

That's when she caught her attention. 

She was sitting alone at the end of the row of chairs opposite hers, her nose buried deep into a worn, paperback book. She was pretty young, and if Ashlyn had to guess an age range, she'd say she was without a doubt somewhere in her mid twenties. The girl had long, thick black hair and a complexion that reminded her of warm honey, and even from where Ashlyn was sitting, she could see the girl's eyes: wide, brown, and surrounded by thick, dark eyelashes. She seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in whatever it was that she was reading, but every so often, she would stop and reach up to take the pencil that she had tucked behind her ear, using it to scribble notes or something onto the pages of her book. Ashlyn, who usually had a little more control over herself, couldn't take her eyes off of her. She wasn't even aware of the fact that she was shamelessly staring at the girl until she suddenly looked up from her book, her gaze meeting Ashlyn's in an instant. She shot her a warm, friendly smile. 

Ashlyn felt her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment and she quickly turned away from her, looking off towards another direction. 

 _Good one you idiot_ , she silently scolded herself.

 _"Bonjour,"_ a soft voice came from beside her, startling her slightly. _"Est votre vol annulé aussi?"_

The girl she had been staring at a moment ago had moved from her seat and was now sitting in the chair beside hers.

She instantly became flustered all over again and cleared her throat nervously. "Sorry, I don't speak French."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," she apologized, effortlessly making the switch from perfect French to perfect English. "You're an American?"

Her voice was laced with a subtle foreign accent, but Ashlyn couldn't quite pinpoint if it was French or perhaps another nationality. 

"Yeah, I am," she replied, wanting to kick herself over how unfriendly her short answer had come out. Thankfully, she hadn't seem to think of her as being rude.

"I was just asking you if you've been stuck here forever like me."

Ashlyn nodded. "Unfortunately. Going on five hours now."

As egotistical as it seemed, there was a part of her that couldn't help but wonder if this girl recognized who she was.

Considering how casually she was speaking to her, she was guessing that she either didn't, or if she did, she didn't really care.

Ashlyn had to admit that either way, it was kind of refreshing and it definitely made her feel a lot more comfortable talking to her.

"What were you doing here in Paris?" the girl asked her in an attempt to carry on the conversation.

"I was here for a wedding this weekend. One of my good friends married his girlfriend." 

She scrunched up her nose a little. "The ultimate act of love in the most romantic city in the world? Don't you find that just a little cliché?"

"Actually, it was very cliché," Ashlyn admitted, letting out a small laugh. "But he's a really close friend of mine. He's basically like a brother to me, and he asked me to be in the wedding. So as disgustingly cliché as it all was, I just couldn't turn him down." The girl laughed too, and something stirred deep inside of her. She had to have the most beautiful smile that Ashlyn had ever seen. "What about you?" she asked, deciding to turn the tables. "What were you doing here? Vacation?"

"Actually, I'm just catching a connecting flight. I had a layover from Somalia." 

Her answer was so unexpected. It caught Ashlyn off guard, but she was also very intrigued by it. "Somalia? What were you doing down there?"

"I was stationed in a refugee camp, helping provide medical care to the families staying there," she explained. She noticed the astounded look that crossed Ashlyn's face and smiled a little. "What?" 

"That's incredible," Ashlyn praised her. "How long were you there?"

"About three and a half months." 

"And now you're going home to Orlando? " The idea that this girl potentially lived in the same city as she did made her insides begin to stir again.

"No. It's just another layover for me. I'll be traveling to Cuba. I'm going there to give a lecture at The University of Havana." Another stunned expression crossed Ashlyn's face and her eyebrows pulled together in adorable confusion. "What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

She quickly shook her head. "No, nothing, it's just that I would think someone would have to be a little older to give lectures at a university."

"Actually, you just have to be really good at what you do," she winked playfully.

"So then where are you from?" While part of Ashlyn truly wanted to know, another part of her wasn't prepared for the disappointment if she lived too far away. 

She hesitated. "Madrid."

Ashlyn's heart sank a little. Spain? For fuck's sake, she didn't even live on the same continent as her?

"Kinda," the girl then added.

"Kinda?"

"It's complicated."

Ashlyn chuckled and gestured towards the board that displayed their delayed flight status. "Even if it is complicated, time isn't something we're particularly short on."

"Well, technically speaking my job is in Madrid, but right now I'm doing a lot of volunteer work abroad. I travel so much that I'm only ever home for a few months out of the entire year," she explained. "I travel to a bunch of different countries and provide medical care to those who need it, but don't really have access to it."

"You're a doctor?" The disbelief was evident in her voice.

 "Yes. I specialize in pediatric medicine," she told her with a hint of pride in her grin. "I mostly work with children."

Ashlyn was in complete awe. She'd only been talking to her for ten minutes and already she had to be one of the most interesting people she had ever met. "How old are you?"

"Hey, you should know it's not polite to ask a woman her age!" She scolded her jokingly.

She flushed lightly.  "No offense or anything, but you just seem so young. I never would've guessed that you were a doctor."

"Well, how old do you think I am?" Her dark brown eyes twinkled in amusement. “And be honest. I promise I won’t be offended.” 

"Twenty five? Twenty six?" Ashlyn guessed honestly.

She blushed. “I’m flattered, but no. I just turned twenty eight a few weeks ago." 

Out of nowhere, they were suddenly interrupted from their conversation by a collective groan from everyone standing around in the airport lounge and they both looked towards the airline counter to see that the sign was now flashing that the flight had been canceled and they were required to book a new one. "Well I suppose we should go get that taken care of," the girl sighed heavily as she stood up, slinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She smiled down at her. "Thanks for talking to me. Good luck getting home."

Before Ashlyn could tell her to wait, she had already made her way into the crowd and towards the ticket counter. She hurriedly jumped up and chased after her, making sure to keep her eyes on her, although it wasn't easy considering how petite she was. She managed to spot her at the counter, and as she started walking away with her new ticket in hand, Ashlyn ran up to speak to the same ticket agent.

"That girl that was just here, what flight did she get on?" she quickly asked the woman at the ticket counter. 

She shot her a strange look. "The next available one to Orlando, which leaves at seven in the morning tomorrow."

"I need to be on that flight," Ashlyn demanded. The woman gave her another weird look, but she complied. "And can I have the seat next to her?" 

"I'm very sorry, but the seat next to her has already been booked by another passenger," she informed her as she looked at the computer screen. 

"What about one near her, then?" she tried again and she shook her head. 

"My apologies, but the only other seats are in the very back of the plane or in first class." 

"Fine, I guess I'll take a first class seat," she said with a defeated sigh and the woman nodded as she began to type something on her keyboard.

After a couple of minutes, she received her new ticket and was sent on her way. She looked around the airport terminal trying to find the girl only to realize that she had been lost somewhere in the crowd. She was gone. Ashlyn was disappointed, but she still had hope that she would at least be able to see her again in the morning before their flight to Orlando. She looked at her watch and realized that it was only nine o' clock in the evening. She had about nine hours to kill before then, but she supposed there were worse cities to be stranded in. As she left the terminal and stepped out into the chilly Parisian night, she stopped in her tracks as she saw her standing in line to get a taxi cab. As she stood there waiting, her eyes scanned curiously over a map of the city. Ashlyn didn't even think twice and started making her way towards her.

"Hey," she greeted her. 

She flashed her a big smile "Hey! Did you book a new flight?" 

"Yeah, I'm on the one at seven in the morning. You?" Ashlyn asked, not wanting to come off as strange by telling her she already knew which flight she was on.

“Awesome, I'm on that one too!" she replied excitedly, and Ashlyn felt her heart flutter inside her chest.

"Cool." She paused awkwardly. "So what are you planning on doing with your free time?" 

She held up her map. "I was thinking about doing some sight seeing. I've been here a couple of times, but I've never really had the courage to tour the city after dark. It's  been on my bucket list for years, no better night than tonight to cross it off. Besides, it'll be nice to see all of the attractions without hundreds of tourists standing in the way with their cameras," she added with a giggle. "What about you? What are you planning on doing with your night?"

Ashlyn shrugged, sliding her hands into the pockets of her black pants. "I don't know. I'll probably end up getting a hotel room and just hang out there until morning."

"Have you ever been here before?" 

"A couple of times, but only on business, so I've never really had the time to go out and see the city." 

"So, let me get this straight," the girl said slowly, "You have a commitment free night in Paris and you're just going to spend it cooped up in some hotel room?" 

"Yeah, I guess so..." she trailed off and shrugged again. 

She shook her head. "Nope, no way. You're coming with me tonight," she said," and before Ashlyn could say anything else, she grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards a waiting cab. She looked down at her intertwined fingers as they slid into the backseat of the car and couldn't help but feel disappointed when she let go a few seconds later. "Oh, we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet. My name is Lena."

"Ashlyn." She held her hand out.

Lena took it, smiling as she gave it a quick shake. "Nice to meet you, Ashlyn."

She smiled back her, her heart thudding hard in her chest. "Nice to meet you too, Lena."


	2. The Eiffel Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two! Thanks for your sweet reading time. x  
> PS: who else is so incredibly happy about spotting rings on Ali/Ash's fingers?! ITS FINALLY HAPPENED. AHHH.

**The Eiffel Tower**

**21:00**

 

 

Ashlyn's leg bounced up and down anxiously. She couldn't even remember the last time she felt nervous, let alone this damn nervous. 

Spending an entire night alone with a beautiful woman in Paris, France?

She casually glanced over, noticing that there was no engagement ring or wedding band on her finger. Single. Possibly. 

 _Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. She's probably straight_ , she had to remind herself. _She has to have a boyfriend at home. A woman like her couldn't possibly be single._

Ashlyn held back a small, defeated sigh and turned to look out the window. 

"Alright, here's the deal. Since our flight leaves at seven o' clock in the morning, that means we'll have to be back at the airport by six so we can check back in with the airline. Otherwise we're screwed," Lena stated as her brown eyes curiously scanned over the large map of Paris she held in her hands. Every now and again, she would take her pencil and circle specific locations on the map, going as far as drawing arrangements of stars next to the landmarks that she was especially looking forward to visiting. As she continued to map out their entire night together, Ashlyn couldn't help but find Lena's eagerness endearing. And incredibly cute. "So how much time does that give us?"

"About nine hours," Ashlyn replied as she checked her watch. "Maybe a little less than that."

"Do you think we can do it all?" Lena looked over at her with an excited grin on her face.

"Not really," she answered honestly. 

"Well, not with that negative attitude, we won't. Let's try and be a little more positive, shall we?" Lena carefully folded up her map, slipping it into her brown leather bag. She leaned forward and said something in rapid, but perfect French to the taxicab driver who grinned and gave her a thumbs up in response. She settled back into her seat. "So, Ashlyn," she began, turning her body at a slight angle to face her. "I've already told you what I do out there in the real world, but I'm a curious to know a little bit more about you. What do you do?"

"Are you asking me what my job is?" she asked, apprehensively. 

She nodded, completely unaware of how tense Ashlyn had become in her seat. "Yes. What do you do for a living?"

Ashlyn hesitated, unsure of whether or not she wanted to tell her the truth about her career. She could make up some bullshit lie, but she decided that she actually really liked Lena, and she didn't want to be dishonest with her. And besides, she had high hopes that Lena wouldn't see or treat her any differently because of what she did to earn a paycheck. Ashlyn couldn't even count the number of people who switched personalities on her the moment they found out who she was. "Well I'm an athlete." She spoke with all the confidence in the world, but her heart was hammering nervously in her chest. "I play soccer. Professionally."

"Wait a minute." Lena stared at her hard for a moment and then gasped, her brown eyes going wide when the realization finally hit her. "I thought you looked oddly familiar! As soon as I saw you back at the airport I knew I had seen your face somewhere before. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it." She noticed Ashlyn's face had gone a deep, deep shade of red and she grinned teasingly at her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to embarrass you or anything. It's just that I'm a Spaniard, it's kind of in my blood to love the sport. You're a goalkeeper, if I'm not mistaken?"

Ashlyn, who was still completely rigid in her seat, managed to nod her head. "Yeah I am."

Lena tilted her head curiously. "What's it like? Being a professional athlete."

"It's great. It's everything that I've ever wanted."

 "But?"

Ashlyn raised her eyebrows, slightly perplexed. "But what?"

"There's a but somewhere in there, I can hear it."

Ashlyn chewed on her bottom lip and turned to look out of the window, watching as the streets of the city passed by in a blur of lights and people. She then let out a small sigh and turned back to Lena. "Don't get me wrong, I really do love what I do and I'm so grateful that I was able to turn my passion into my career. Not a lot of people can do that. But it's everything else that comes along with it. The fame aspect, mostly. I'm always just trying to be myself and true to who I am, but it can be tough. What a lot of people don't realize is that at the end of the day, when you're living in the public eye, it's really always about pleasing others more than it is about pleasing yourself." She paused momentarily, and waited for Lena's reaction, but she simply sat there with her hands folded in her lap and continued to listen intently. "And then there's constantly being hounded by photographers, those bastards will follow me anywhere, just waiting for me to do something that will mess up my reputation or give me a bad name. It's like walking on eggshells a lot of the time. Half of my fanbase are kids and teenagers, impressionable young girls. It's nice to be able to be a role model, but at the same time, it's like I really don't have much freedom, you know?"

Lena nodded understandingly. "Well then, think of tonight as an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?"

"For having that freedom that you want. You don't have to worry about anything when you're around me." She reached over and gently touched her hand, causing a pleasant chill to run up and down her spine. "We have one night to do whatever we want, say whatever we want, and then we'll never see each other again. We have the complete luxury of being able to be our true selves without having to care about what the rest of the world thinks." She stopped and smiled sheepishly. "Wow, I  must sound a little bit insane. I'm sorry."

Ashlyn chuckled, shaking her head. "Actually, you don't. In fact, I think that sounds like a perfect way to look at tonight."

Before Lena could say anything else, the car came to a stop and the driver told them that they had reached their destination. Ashlyn checked the meter and handed him the money to pay for the ride despite Lena's protests that they should at the very least split the fare in half. 

"What's the point of getting paid to kick around a soccer ball if I can't pay for a simple cab ride?" she joked as she helped Lena out. "Really, don't worry about it."

"Okay, that means I'm paying for your ticket to the top," Lena insisted, giving her a stern look when she opened her mouth to protest. "It's only fair, Ashlyn."

Seeing that she wouldn't take no for an answer, decided to let her have her way. "Alright," she relented. "You can pay for the tickets to the top."

"Great! Now let's go, we don't have time to waste." Lena laced her fingers through Ashlyn's and started pulling her towards the Eiffel Tower, Paris' most famous and iconic landmark. She stopped once they were standing underneath it, a look of complete wonder crossing her delicate features. "Wow, look at all of the lights," she said, breathlessly. "I've never seen anything this beautiful before."

Ashlyn glanced away from the grand structure and at her to see the expression on her face. She found herself grinning at Lena's amazement, and thought that it lit up her face so much brighter than the Eiffel Tower could ever hope to be. "Well I have," she said before she could stop herself. Lena tore her eyes from the tower to look at her. "I've seen something that's so much more beautiful than this."

"Really?" The skepticism was evident in her tone. "What was it?"

Ashlyn bit her lower lip nervously, finding that her moment of confidence had vanished just as quickly as it had come. "It's kind of hard to explain," she replied and Lena nodded understandingly. She then pulled Ashlyn towards the ticket booth and glared at her when she took out her credit card. "What?"

"We went over this, the tickets are on me since you paid the cab fare," Lena reminded her as she pulled out her wallet. She paid for the tickets, thanked the cashier, and put her wallet back in her bag before taking her arm and leading the way towards the elevators. 

 "There aren't too many people," Ashlyn observed. "Perks of touring Paris late at night."

"It's nice this way, though, isn't it?" Lena remarked as they stepped onto the elevator with a handful of other people. As they started going up, she looked at Ashlyn with a small, wary smile. "Can I confess something to you?" 

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid of heights," she admitted. "I mean, I'm really afraid of heights."

"Then why the hell are we going to the very top?" Ashlyn asked with a small laugh as Lena slipped her arm through hers and moved closer to her. She could see the slight hint of fear in Lena's eyes as she looked down at the ground through the clear elevator floor. "You're crazy, we don't have to do this. We'll get off on the next floor and go back down. We can still enjoy the tower from the ground."

Lena quickly shook her head. "No, I want to go up. You can't go to Paris and miss going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. If you spend your whole life not doing things because you're too afraid, then you end up doing nothing that's worth while." It almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Ashlyn. They got out of the elevator on the second level and got into the next one to take them to the top. As they continued to go up higher, she moved even closer to her, her fingers digging into Ashlyn's arm.

"Are you alright?" she asked, noticing that Lena's face had gone a little pale as soon as they reached the top level and stepped out onto the terrace.

"I'm fine. Just don't let go of me, okay?" 

"Of course I won't," Ashlyn assured her.

Once they reached the railing, Lena dropped her arm and gasped loudly. She had never seen anything as gorgeous as the view from atop the Eiffel Tower at night. 

The city lights beneath them sparkled and it was so damn incredible that it was enough to overpower any fear that she had about being so high up.

Ashlyn was just as in awe as she was. She had always heard about how amazing Paris was under the stars, that was a definitely a given.

But standing there with Lena at her side, she felt something, a feeling that had become almost foreign to her over the last couple of years. 

It took her a moment to pinpoint what it was, but then she realized that it was a feeling of peace. 

"So, why did you get so involved with practicing medicine abroad?" Ashlyn asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them.

"The same reason that I became a doctor in the first place. I just love helping people," she replied without skipping a beat. "After I finished my residency in Madrid, one of the physicians that supervised me offered me the chance to travel with him to India as his assistant. He was going to provide free vaccinations to children, it was perfect for me since I wanted to continue on and specialize in pediatrics." She leaned against the railing. "That trip was nothing like I expected it to be. It really opened up my eyes. Going to the slums, seeing how desperate mothers were for their babies to get a simple influenza vaccine hit me so hard. It made me realize a lot of things, like how often society forgets about those parts of the world, the poorest parts where some people can't access medical care they desperately need."

Ashlyn stared at her. "Wow. That kind of makes me rethink my life a little bit."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Compared to what I do, you're actually out there trying to make a difference in the world."

"Everyone makes a difference in the world, regardless of what they do, just in different ways. Even if you think you don't."

Ashlyn grinned a little and lightly nudged her. "You're kind of an idealist, aren't you?"

"You're not the first person that's told me that," Lena laughed softly. "But you're probably one of the only people who's ever meant it as a compliment."

"It should always be a compliment."

"You'd be surprised as to how many people have come up to me and told me to my face that I'm an idealist in a tone that let me know that they were looking down on me, as if what I'm trying to work towards is too unrealistic and can never be accomplished. It's one of the worst feelings in the world." She sighed. "I'm not stupid, I know that I can't possibly help everyone in the world, but I just want to be certain that what I'm doing is actually making a difference."

She nudged her again. "Of course it's making a difference, Lena."

"Yeah, well, sometimes I have trouble believing that."

Ashlyn wished she knew the right thing to say to make her feel better. She hated to see someone with such a beautiful smile look so down. She looked out towards the city, feeling a wave of foolish courage come over her. She just had to know. "So, are you single?" she asked, and Lena nodded her head with a small smile. "You have to be kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm serious. I travel so much that it's difficult for me to be in a relationship. I mean, who wants to date a girl who's in a different country every other week?"

Ashlyn could hear the hint of sadness in her voice. "Well, that's probably just because you haven't met the right person yet."

"I honestly don't even know anymore," Lena confessed sheepishly. "I've met a lot of people, but it's never worked out because I have so much passion for what I do, I love it so much that I could never imagine giving it up for anyone. I mean, think about it, would you give up your soccer career for someone?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I think the right person would never even ask me to give it up in the first place." 

"Funny, I didn't really peg you to be a romantic."

"Romantic? Me?" Ashlyn chuckled. "Hardly."

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"No, I'm single."

Lena raised an eyebrow at her. "That's kind of crazy. I'm surprised that you haven't been snatched up by someone."

Ashlyn's mouth fell slightly open in surprise. Was she imagining things or was Lena flirting with her?

"I hope I'm not being too forward," she continued to say. "But I just kind of assumed you had a girl at home."

"I used to be in a long term relationship. We were even engaged to be married at one point, but it just didn't up working out. Since we broke up about a year ago, I just haven't found the right girl." Ashlyn's heart was racing. She normally wasn't one to think too highly of herself when it came to women, but something in Lena's eyes as she looked at her was beginning to make Ashlyn wonder if there was a possibility that maybe, just maybe, she did like women. Ashlyn knew that there was only one way for her to find out. "Earlier, when I was talking about what I had seen that was more beautiful than the Eiffel Tower, I was actually talking about you."

The expression that crossed Lena's face was one of pure shock.

Ashlyn inwardly began to panic. _Fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm such an idiot. I just completely ruined this night._

But she then noticed the blush creeping on her cheeks. Lena moved her gaze back to the view and Ashlyn could see her biting down on her lip as she smiled.

"How long are you going to be in Havana?"

"I'll only be there for a couple of days. I'm giving my lecture and then I'll be traveling East."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm supposed to be spending the next few months in a couple different places. I'll be in Pakistan, then Palestine, and Lebanon."

"Holy shit," Ashlyn mumbled and she quirked an eyebrow at her, silently questioning her reaction. "Aren't you worried?"

"About what?"

Ashlyn frowned. "Those aren't exactly the safest places in the world. Aren't you scared that something might happen to you?"

Lena nodded. "Oh, absolutely. I'm terrified."

"Then why are you going?"

"Because there are people there who really need help," she answered simply.

That was the exact moment that Ashlyn knew. She knew that Lena was special. She was different from any other woman she had ever met, she was one of a kind. 

"I wonder what it's like," Lena said after a moment, interrupting Ashlyn's train of thought.

"What?"

She gestured with a subtle nod of her head towards a couple leaning against the railing, deeply locked in each other's embrace.

"What it's like to kiss someone while you're standing on top of the Eiffel Tower. I mean, I'm just wondering if it's as cheesy and romantic as it looks."

Ashlyn knew that this was her chance, and she would have been a fool not to take it. She moved away from the railing. "Well, why don't we find out?"

Lena gasped in surprise as Ashlyn gently cupped her cheek and innocently placed her hand on her hip to pull her closer. Ashlyn looked deeply into her bright eyes, her free hand reaching up to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. Lena's arms slowly wrapped themselves around her neck and she shivered as she felt her play lightly with the hair at the nape of her neck. She slowly leaned into Lena and they stood absolutely still, both of them waiting for the other to make that final move. With a small smile, it was Lena who closed the distance and softly pressed her lips to Ashlyn's. Every stupid, ridiculous cliché about fireworks, sparks, and electricity, it all occurred the moment that their lips met, and both of them could feel it. Lena's lips parted slightly, and Ashlyn took that as an invitation to deepen their kiss. 

"So," Ashlyn murmured breathlessly once they had pulled away from each other. "What's the verdict?"

"Way more cheesy and romantic than it looks," Lena answered just as breathless.

Ashlyn laughed. She stood behind Lena and wrapped her arms tightly around her shoulders as they both continued to admire the view. 

"You know, if I had been too scared to come up here, we wouldn't have gotten to do that."

"That's true," Ashlyn agreed, grinning. "I'm glad you didn't let me convince you to go back down."

Although she couldn't see it, she knew Lena was grinning too. "Are you ready to continue on with our night?"

"Definitely," she said without any hesitation. "What's next?"

 


End file.
